NCIP demands share of tribal community in Casecnan tax

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya — The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) has been calling for an audit of the supposed share of the tribal folk from the operation of the US-owned and operated Casecnan multi-purpose irrigation and power project here.

Ruben Bastero, NCIP director for Cagayan Valley, said the residents in the project’s impact zone should have a share in the P250-million real property tax the California Energy (Cal-Energy) had paid last year for operating the irrigation and power project in Alfonso Castaneda town here.

Cal-Energy owns and operates the Casecnan project.

Bastero said that under the Indigenous Peoples Reform Act, the tribal villagers in the area should receive a share from the project, which is being operated within their territorial jurisdiction and is part of the villagers’ ancestral domain.

Four barangays dominated by the indigenous Bugkalot tribes were supposed to receive a certain percentage of the real property tax as well as national wealth tax shares of the Casecnan project.

Last year, Cal-Energy had settled its P250-million real property tax obligations to the province, following a three-year court battle.

Casecnan project’s four impact zones — Barangays Lipuga, Pelaway, Cawayan and Abuyo — should have received at least P30 million as share from Casecnan’s real property tax payment.

The amount was intended to fund various development and livelihood projects in the four barangays, with some amount reserved as special education fund for the Bugkalots.

The NCIP said the amount has yet to be received by the tribal communities. Worse, Bastero claimed he received information that the fund was already depleted.

Bastero’s call for an audit of the villagers’ share came after the barangay chairmen of the four barangays in the project impact zone aired complaints against Alfonso Castañeda Mayor Alfredo Castillo Jr., whom they accused of ‘hoodwinking’ them into agreeing to issue several checks representing part of their shares from the Casecnan tax.

Castillo could not be immediately reached for comment. However, in a previous interview with media men, Castillo denied allegations that he personally used the Casecnan tax shares of the barangays.

"These people belong to the Bugkalot tribe. They are uneducated, helpless people needing assistance. Their ancestral lands, including their rivers and mountains have been taken away from them for the benefit of the region," Bastero said.

The Bugkalots, following a series of dialogues, were convinced by the national government in the 1990s to agree to the construction of the Casecnan project thinking that "roads will be built, their children educated, and their livelihood secured."

"But these dreams and expectations have yet to be realized as their just share in the utilization of their land and waters have yet to arrive," Bastero said. — Charlie Lagasca